Glass Delusions

1st October - 19th December 2015

Mon - Sat 1-5pm

(c) Eleanor Morgan

How do minerals become living things? In this exhibition of
prints, drawings, videos and objects, Artist in Residence Eleanor Morgan
explores the slippery boundary between living and non-living materials. Her
work is inspired by the Grant Museum's collection of intricate glass sponges –
animals that naturally build themselves out of glass – they are formed of 90%
silica.

Over the last year, Eleanor Morgan has been the Leverhulme
Trust funded Artist in Residence at the Grant Museum of Zoology. Investigating the
collection of glass sponges, Eleanor has been exploring glass as a material,
its cultural significance and how living and inorganic glass interact. Glass Delusions is an exhibition of new
work inspired by the Museum’s collection, the conversations she has had with
biologists, chemists, geologists and engineers along the way, and the challenge
of re-animating a museum of dead creatures.

In Museums,
it’s everywhere, specimens made of glass, in glass jars, under glass domes,
covered with glass boxes. Look beyond the specimen and set yourself the
peculiar challenge of drawing the glass, the overlooked material of museums.
Join a Museum artist and some very special objects from the collection for this
evening of drawing.

During the evening you will also have a private view of Glass Delusions, an
exhibition of new work by artist Eleanor Morgan who has been in residence at
the Grant Museum of Zoology. Ticket costs also include a free glass of wine.
Materials will be provided.

Join historians, scientists and
artists as they discuss their research and some of specimens from the Museum’s
collection that inspired the artworks of Glass Delusions. Find out more about
the exhibition and the techniques used to create Glass Delusions with our
Leverhulme Trust funded artist in residence Eleanor Morgan. Don’t worry if you
can’t stay for the whole hour, doors open at 1pm, talks start at 1.15pm and
lasts 30 minutes with the speaker on hand till 2pm. Stay for the whole hour or
just dip in for the talk over your lunchtime.

Lampworking is one of the most
ancient glassmaking techniques, with examples dating back to the 5th century
BC. Join Dr Shelley James from the Royal College of Art as she invites
participants to work glass using the latest generation of portable flameworking
torches. During this interactive session you will have the opportunity to
explore basic techniques: heating, shaping, blowing simple forms and creating
holes to create your own warbling whistles from test tubes.
Tickets are £12 and booking is essential via http://grantmuseum.eventbrite.com sessions start at 6.30pm and
7.45pm

How did fishermen record the size
and species of their catches before the invention of photography? The old
Japanese printing technique of Gyotaku or ‘fish rubbing’ provided a solution.
Artists Eleanor Morgan and Sam Curtis of the Centre for Innovative and Radical
Fishmongery invite you to re-imagine this printing process and to have a go at
printing a fish of your own.

Glass Delusions will be popping
up at the Sluice_ Fair on London’s Southbank, visit http://www.sluice.info/ for more details.

Finding Diamonds along the
Thames: Mudlarking walk

Date: 18th October | Time:
10:30am to 2pm | Location: Meet at the Millennium Bridge, North Side | Price:
£6 | Age group: Adults and children aged over 12

Rambling along the foreshore of
the Thames you can expect to find a wealth of treasure from the archaeological
to the natural, but would you be lucky enough to find a diamond? Join us and
the Thames Estuary Partnership on a mud larking walk led by archaeologist Mike
Webber, retracing Eleanor Morgan’s footsteps and discover how she managed to
make the Mudlark Diamond from her riverside finds.

Join
historians, scientists and artists as they discuss their research and some of
specimens from the Museum’s collection that inspired the artworks of Glass
Delusions. Find out more about Dr. Daniela Rosenow’s investigations of some of
the earliest ever glass produced and what it can tell us about the politics,
society and economy of Ancient Egypt. Don’t worry if you can’t stay for the
whole hour, doors open at 1pm, talks start at 1.15pm and lasts 30 minutes with
the speaker on hand till 2pm. Stay for the whole hour or just dip in for the
talk over your lunchtime.

Our collection is arranged according to family
groups, animals that would have once co-existed together now are found in
different cabinets. For one night only we are reuniting specimens from around
the Museum to creating a seascape like no other and challenging the drawers of
London to bring it back to life. Join a Museum artist and some very special
specimens for this evening of drawing.
Tickets are £6 and booking is essential visit http://grantmuseum.eventbrite.com

Join historians, scientists and
artists as they discuss their research and some of specimens from the Museum’s
collection that inspired the artworks of Glass Delusions. Find out more about
Dr. Kate Hendry’s research on the chemistry of the enigmatic glass sponges and
what these deep sea creatures can tell us the climate of the past. Don’t worry
if you can’t stay for the whole hour, doors open at 1pm, talks start at 1.15pm
and lasts 30 minutes with the speaker on hand till 2pm. Stay for the whole hour
or just dip in for the talk over your lunchtime.

Join historians, scientists and
artists as they discuss their research and some of specimens from the Museum’s
collection that inspired the artworks of Glass Delusions. Find out more from
Dr. Carol Reeves and Dr. Bill Maclehose about history of the glass delusion, a
mania that swept across Medieval Europe where people feared they were made of
glass. Don’t worry if you can’t stay for the whole hour, doors open at 1pm,
talks start at 1.15pm and lasts 30 minutes with the speaker on hand till 2pm.
Stay for the whole hour or just dip in for the talk over your lunchtime.

Created in the 1800’s by the
father and son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, the glass models of
invertebrates housed at the Grant Museum are a unique blend of art, science and
craftsmanship. Join Natural History Museum Curator Miranda Lowe and scientific
glassblower Stephen Ramsey as they explore the importance and use of these
scientifically accurate and incredibly beautiful models. In a live
glass-blowing demonstration we’ll uncover some of the glass making techniques
used to create these intricate pieces of glass over 100 years ago.

Join historians, scientists and artists as they
discuss their research and some of specimens from the Museum’s collection that
inspired the artworks of Glass Delusions. Find out more about UCL’s diamond lab
from Professor David Dobson and the processes involved in making a diamond.
Don’t worry if you can’t stay for the whole hour, doors open at 1pm, talks start
at 1.15pm and lasts 30 minutes with the speaker on hand till 2pm. Stay for the
whole hour or just dip in for the talk over your lunchtime.

How did fishermen record the size
and species of their catches before the invention of photography? The old
Japanese printing technique of Gyotaku or ‘fish rubbing’ provided a solution.
Artists Eleanor Morgan and Sam Curtis of the Centre for Innovative and Radical
Fishmongery invite you to re-imagine this printing process for and invite you
to join them.

The Grant Museum’s Fifth Birthday

Tue, 15 Mar 2016 09:30:43 +0000

Happy birthday to ewe Guppy birthday to ewe Guppy bird-jay deer Grant Museum Guppy bird-jay shrew ewe. On the 15th March 2011 the Grant Museum 2.0* opened its doors to a new era. It was the day we begun our lives in our current home on the corner of Gower and University Streets. Permit me […]

The Top Ten Grant Museum Blogs of 2015

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 13:30:29 +0000

Happy New Year! 2015 was an absolute cracker for the Grant Museum, with our two exhibitions – Strange Creatures: The Art of Unknown Animals, and our Artist in Residence Eleanor Morgan’s Glass Delusions – as well as the massive Bone Idols conservation project. Together these helped us break all records for visitor numbers, as well […]

Look, draw, scan, invert, colour in. REPEAT.

Wed, 09 Dec 2015 09:30:40 +0000

This is a guest post from our artist in residence Eleanor Morgan. It is part of a series exploring the exhibition Glass Delusions at the Grant Museum of Zoology. I have a pile of drawings and sketches of sponge specimens made during my residency at the Grant Museum, which aren’t exhibited in the Glass Delusions […]

Letting things draw themselves

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 09:30:55 +0000

This is a guest post from our artist in residence Eleanor Morgan. It is part of a series exploring the exhibition Glass Delusions at the Grant Museum of Zoology. During my artist’s residency at the Grant Museum I wanted to record the way light travels through the glass jars and specimens that fill the space. […]

When your head is made of glass

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 09:30:33 +0000

This is a guest post from our artist in residence Eleanor Morgan. It is part of a series exploring the exhibition Glass Delusions at the Grant Museum of Zoology. My current exhibition ‘Glass Delusions’ is about things transformed from living to non-living materials and back again. One of the ideas that particularly interested me was […]

Glass delusions from the ancient Egyptian world

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 09:30:33 +0000

This post is part of a series exploring the exhibition Glass Delusions at the Grant Museum of Zoology. We often visualize ancient Egypt in sandy hues against the backdrop of a clear blue sky, or the watery Nile framed by green vegetation. Yet there was a much wider palette of colours used in the adornment […]